Scott Pilgrim mania hit its peak two weeks ago with the release of the PSN game and the movie coming just a few weeks after the sixth book made its way to stores. The book is in a really strange position for mainstream acceptance. Most people see it and think “hipster”, which isn’t at all accurate. It’s more gamer than hipster, but its protagonists are young, twenty-somethings who are trying to get their act together and get started in life.

An image O'Malley created as a joke to describe his comic.

Funny thing about indie comics and Brian Lee O’Malley in general, this series has been in the works since 2005 slowly working up to its recently released finale in 2010. That’s five years for six books, but it’s not a race, fellows. In fact, the added time probably did the book some good since it allowed O’Malley time to think about what he wanted to do and totally flesh out his stuff.

The books start out rougher than the finale, but they do steadily increase in quality and should definitely be read at some point if you like comics and video games at all.

Not too Cera-y. Worth watching

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the movie adaptation, has seen seriously sub par box office numbers since its release two weeks ago. Grossing only $20 million, the movie, despite its strong ad campaign, seems to have been missed by nearly all of its intended audience. The video game nerds don’t properly know that it’s so heavy in references, everyone thinks it’s about annoying hipsters, and the hyper-kinetic film style seems to be putting off the mainstream and the critics. Shame, too, because it’s actually a fun movie with a neat visual style that captures the spirit of the books insanely well.

The world is like Captain Falcon in this analogy.

Another part of the problem is that the target audience is doing a lot of internet viewing (AKA pirating) of the film and not hitting the box office. I feel really bad for O’Malley and Edgar Wright (director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) who put together a great movie that no one is seeing.

One final point about the movie: I actually enjoyed Michael Cera in it. He wasn’t bad and he wasn’t Cera-ing it up too much. He was more Scott Pilgrim than Cera, which is what he’s supposed to do and that’s a welcome respite.

Screenshot!

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is another great part of the media empire that Min and I have sunk countless hours into playing. More loyal to the books than the movies, the game is a beat-em-up in the style of River City Ransom, the classic NES Kunio-kun game that started the franchise. It’s been a lot of fun and I can’t wait to finally beat it this weekend when Min comes over again.